I’m genuinely shocked and outraged they didn’t get life with no parole from this. Its sickening.
It’s all about intent… They didn’t intend for her to die. In their minds they were convinced they were helping her, no matter how screwed up their reasoning was.
Even if they didn’t intend to kill her, they must have realized that what they were doing was torture. Especially if its not just one fucked up therapist but a group of five adults participating. You can’t tell me none of them had the brains to not understand what they were doing.
Also whats up with Ponder saying “Go ahead. Die right now, for real. For real” when the child is repeatedly stating it can’t breathe.
There are countless examples of cults etc. where people are brainwashed into doing stupid things ranging from starving infants to mass suicide. In all those cases they’re doing what they believe is right, whether it’s “gods will” or something else entirely.
Edit: and many people erroneously assume that if you can speak that means you’re able to breathe. It means you’re exhaling, but it doesn’t mean you can inhale as well. Just look at events like the death of George Floyd as one example.
Yup. It’s just tragic all the way around
Obviously it’s most tragic for the child who was abused in childhood, adopted by a mother who was taken in by hucksters, and then killed in this so-called medical procedure.
But it’s also tragic for the adults who were so screwed up that they thought this was helping the kid. I’m sure they will spend the rest of their lives filled with guilt, on top of the criminal sentencing, for a misguided but presumably good faith attempt to help a kid recover from a psychological condition.
